Terms Used In California Codes > Food and Agricultural Code > Division 5 > Part 1 > Chapter 1 - General Provisions

• Abandoned: means left without provision for reasonable and necessary care or supervision. See California Family Code 3402
• Abusive litigation: means litigation or other legal action to deter, prevent, sanction, or punish a person engaging in legally protected health care activity by either of the following:

  California Civil Code 1798.300

• Adult: means an individual 18 years of age or older. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• affordable price: means , in the case of a purchaser, other than a lower income household, the price for residential property for which the purchaser's monthly payments will not exceed that portion of the purchasing household's adjusted income as determined in accordance with the regulations of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, issued pursuant to Section 235 of the National Housing Act. See California Government Code 54236
• Aid-in-dying drug: means a drug determined and prescribed by a physician for a qualified individual, which the qualified individual may choose to self-administer to bring about their death due to a terminal disease. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• area median income: means median household income, adjusted for family size as determined in accordance with the regulations of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development issued pursuant to Section 235 of the National Housing Act, as amended (Public Law 90-448), for the standard metropolitan statistical area (SMSA), in which surplus residential property to be disposed of pursuant to this article is located, or the county in which the property is located, if it is outside an SMSA. See California Government Code 54236
• Attending physician: means the physician who has primary responsibility for the health care of an individual and treatment of the individual's terminal disease. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Attending physician checklist and compliance form: means a form, as described in Section 443. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Capacity to make medical decisions: means that, in the opinion of an individual's attending physician, consulting physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist, pursuant to §. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Chief plant operator: means the person designated by the owner of the wastewater treatment plant as the person responsible for the overall operation of the wastewater treatment plant, including compliance with effluent limitations established in the wastewater treatment plant's waste discharge requirements. See California Water Code 13625
• Child: means an individual who has not attained 18 years of age. See California Family Code 3402
• Child custody determination: means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court providing for the legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child. See California Family Code 3402
• Child custody proceeding: means a proceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child is an issue. See California Family Code 3402
• Commencement: means the filing of the first pleading in a proceeding. See California Family Code 3402
• Conferees: Legislators appointed to serve on conference committees. They are also called "managers." Conferees are usually appointed from the committee or committees that reported the legislation; they are expected to try and uphold their chamber's position on measures when they negotiate with conferees from the other chamber.
• Consulting physician: means a physician who is independent from the attending physician and who is qualified by specialty or experience to make a professional diagnosis and prognosis regarding an individual's terminal disease. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• County: includes "city and county. See California Welfare and Institutions Code 14
• County: includes city and county. See California Health and Safety Code 14
• County: includes "city and county. See California Public Resources Code 14
• County: includes city and county. See California Family Code 67
• Court: means an entity authorized under the law of a state to establish, enforce, or modify a child custody determination. See California Family Code 3402
• custody: means the legal right to custody of the child unless that right is held jointly by two or more persons, in which case "custody" means the physical custody of the child by one of the persons sharing the right to custody. See California Welfare and Institutions Code 17.1
• Dangerous condition: means a condition of property that creates a substantial (as distinguished from a minor, trivial or insignificant) risk of injury when such property or adjacent property is used with due care in a manner in which it is reasonably foreseeable that it will be used. See California Government Code 830
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• department: means State Department of Health Services. See California Health and Safety Code 20
• Department: means the State Department of Developmental Services. See California Welfare and Institutions Code 4401
• Department: means the State Department of Public Health. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Department: means the Department of Food and Agriculture. See California Food and Agricultural Code 32
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Director: means "State Director of Health Services. See California Health and Safety Code 21
• Director: means the Director of Developmental Services. See California Welfare and Institutions Code 4401
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• displacement: includes , but is not limited to, persons who will have to move from surplus residential property that they occupy when it is sold by a state agency because they are unable to afford to pay the price that the state agency is asking for the residential property. See California Government Code 54236
• Dispose: means either of the following:

  California Government Code 54221

• district: as used in this article includes all districts within the state, including, but not limited to, all special districts, sewer, water, utility, and local and regional park districts, and any other political subdivision of this state that is a district, and therefore the changes in paragraph (1) made by the act adding this paragraph that specify that the provisions of this article apply to all districts, including school, sewer, water, utility, and local and regional park districts of any kind or class, are declaratory of, and not a change in, existing law. See California Government Code 54221
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• exempt surplus land: means any of the following:

  California Government Code 54221

• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• fair market value: shall mean fair market value as of the date the offer of sale is made by the selling agency pursuant to the provisions of this article and shall reflect the existing "as is" condition of the property, taking into account any repairs required to make the property safe and habitable. See California Government Code 54236
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Health care entity: means any clinic, health dispensary, or health facility licensed pursuant to Division 2 (commencing with Section 1200), including a general hospital, medical clinic, nursing home or hospice facility. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Home state: means the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding. See California Family Code 3402
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Informed decision: means a decision by an individual with a terminal disease to request and obtain a prescription for a drug that the individual may self-administer to end the individual's life, that is based on an understanding and acknowledgment of the relevant facts, and that is made after being fully informed by the attending physician of all of the following:

  California Health and Safety Code 443.1

• Initial determination: means the first child custody determination concerning a particular child. See California Family Code 3402
• institutions: include every hospital, sanitarium, boarding home, or other place receiving or caring for developmentally disabled persons. See California Welfare and Institutions Code 4416
• Issuing court: means the court that makes a child custody determination for which enforcement is sought under this part. See California Family Code 3402
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Legally protected health care activity: means any of the following:

  California Civil Code 1798.300

• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local agency: means every city, whether organized under general law or by charter, county, city and county, district, including school, sewer, water, utility, and local and regional park districts of any kind or class, joint powers authority, successor agency to a former redevelopment agency, housing authority, or other political subdivision of this state and any instrumentality thereof that is empowered to acquire and hold real property. See California Government Code 54221
• lower income households: means lower income households as defined in §. See California Government Code 54236
• Medically confirmed: means the medical diagnosis and prognosis of the attending physician has been confirmed by a consulting physician who has examined the individual and the individual's relevant medical records. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Mental health specialist: means a psychiatrist or a licensed psychologist. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Mental health specialist assessment: means one or more consultations between an individual and a mental health specialist for the purpose of determining that the individual has the capacity to make medical decisions and is not suffering from impaired judgment due to a mental disorder. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Modification: means a child custody determination that changes, replaces, supersedes, or is otherwise made after a previous determination concerning the same child, whether or not it is made by the court that made the previous determination. See California Family Code 3402
• month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See California Civil Code 14
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• offer: means to solicit proposals prior to sale in a manner calculated to achieve a sale under the conditions specified, and to hold the offer open for a reasonable period of time, which shall be no more than one year, unless the time is extended by the selling agency at its discretion, for a period to be specified by the selling agency. See California Government Code 54236
• Open-space purposes: means the use of land for public recreation, enjoyment of scenic beauty, or conservation or use of natural resources. See California Government Code 54221
• Operates: means actions or decisions to control performance or outcome of one or more wastewater treatment processes and includes the supervision of any other person who acts or makes decisions to control the performance or outcome of one or more wastewater treatment processes. See California Water Code 13625
• order: include a decree, as appropriate under the circumstances. See California Family Code 100
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Person: means any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or company. See California Health and Safety Code 19
• Person: includes any city, county, district, the state, and the United States, to the extent authorized by federal law. See California Water Code 13050
• Person: includes a natural person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or public entity. See California Family Code 105
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, or government. See California Family Code 3402
• Person acting as a parent: means a person, other than a parent, who: (1) has physical custody of the child or has had physical custody for a period of six consecutive months, including any temporary absence, within one year immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding. See California Family Code 3402
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• persons and families of low or moderate income: means persons and families who meet both of the following conditions:

  California Government Code 54236

• Petitioner: includes plaintiff, where appropriate. See California Family Code 126
• Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a child. See California Family Code 3402
• Physician: means a doctor of medicine or osteopathy currently licensed to practice medicine in this state. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Proceeding: includes an action. See California Family Code 110
• Process: includes a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings of either a civil or criminal nature. See California Government Code 22
• property: includes property real and personal. See California Civil Code 14
• Property: includes real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Family Code 113
• Protect against: includes repairing, remedying or correcting a dangerous condition, providing safeguards against a dangerous condition, or warning of a dangerous condition. See California Government Code 830
• Public place: means any street, alley, park, public building, any place of business or assembly open to or frequented by the public, and any other place that is open to the public view, or to which the public has access. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Qualified individual: means an adult who has the capacity to make medical decisions, is a resident of California, and has satisfied the requirements of this part in order to obtain a prescription for a drug to end their life. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Recycled water: means water which, as a result of treatment of waste, is suitable for a direct beneficial use or a controlled use that would not otherwise occur and is therefor considered a valuable resource. See California Water Code 13050
• Regional board: means any California regional water quality control board for a region as specified in Section 13200. See California Water Code 13050
• Reproductive health care services: means and includes all services, care, or products of a medical, surgical, psychiatric, therapeutic, diagnostic, mental health, behavioral health, preventative, rehabilitative, supportive, consultative, referral, prescribing, or dispensing nature relating to the human reproductive system provided in accordance with the constitution and laws of this state, whether provided in person or by means of telehealth services which includes, but is not limited to, all services, care, and products relating to pregnancy, the termination of a pregnancy, assisted reproduction, or contraception. See California Civil Code 1798.300
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Respondent: includes defendant, where appropriate. See California Family Code 127
• Self-administer: means a qualified individual's affirmative, conscious, and physical act of administering and ingesting the aid-in-dying drug to bring about their own death. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• single-family residence: means a real property improvement used, or intended to be used, as a dwelling unit for one family. See California Government Code 54236
• Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Health and Safety Code 12.2
• Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Business and Professions Code 14.2
• State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Water Code 18
• State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Health and Safety Code 23
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, or a commonwealth, territory, or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See California Family Code 145
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See California Family Code 3402
• State board: means the State Water Resources Control Board. See California Water Code 13050
• State hospital: means any hospital specified in Section 4440. See California Welfare and Institutions Code 4401
• Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Water Code 10
• Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Food and Agricultural Code 49
• Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which the term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Government Code 10
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Support: refers to a support obligation owing on behalf of a child, spouse, or family, or an amount owing pursuant to Section 17402. See California Family Code 150
• Surplus land: includes land held in the Community Redevelopment Property Trust Fund pursuant to §. See California Government Code 54221
• surplus residential property: means land and structures owned by any agency of the state that is determined to be no longer necessary for the agency's use, and that is developed as single-family or multifamily housing, except property being held by the agency for the purpose of exchange. See California Government Code 54236
• Tenant: includes a subtenant or assignee. See California Civil Code 1995.020
• Terminal disease: means an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgment, result in death within six months. See California Health and Safety Code 443.1
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Tribe: means an Indian tribe or band, or Alaskan Native village, that is recognized by federal law or formally acknowledged by a state. See California Family Code 3402
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Truth in Lending Act: The Truth in Lending Act is a federal law that requires lenders to provide standardized information so that borrowers can compare loan terms. In general, lenders must provide information on ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: means the United States of America, and in relation to any particular matter includes the officers, agents, employees, agencies, or instrumentalities authorized to act in relation thereto. See California Water Code 20
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Warrant: means an order issued by a court authorizing law enforcement officers to take physical custody of a child. See California Family Code 3402
• Waste: includes sewage and any and all other waste substances, liquid, solid, gaseous, or radioactive, associated with human habitation, or of human or animal origin, or from any producing, manufacturing, or processing operation, including waste placed within containers of whatever nature prior to, and for purposes of, disposal. See California Water Code 13050
• Wastewater certificate: means a certificate of competency issued by the state board stating that a person has met the requirements to be certified for a specific classification and grade level in the certification program. See California Water Code 13625
• Wastewater treatment plant: means any of the following:

  California Water Code 13625

• Water quality control: means the regulation of any activity or factor which may affect the quality of the waters of the state and includes the prevention and correction of water pollution and nuisance. See California Water Code 13050
• Water quality objectives: means the limits or levels of water quality constituents or characteristics which are established for the reasonable protection of beneficial uses of water or the prevention of nuisance within a specific area. See California Water Code 13050
• Water recycling treatment plant: means a wastewater treatment plant that further treats secondary or tertiary effluent, or both, for the purpose of meeting the uniform statewide recycling criteria established pursuant to Section 13521 for the use of recycled water. See California Water Code 13625
• will: includes codicil. See California Civil Code 14